Is water the new oil?

Sounds interesting enough. However, I was very disappointed with the topic matter. The speaker was Karen Piper, a professor at University of Missouri - Columbia. The reason why I was disappointed was one, she wasn't engaging and two, she spent more time addressing corrupt companies instead of showing a solid parallelism between water and oil. I was expecting more of an organic informational session, instead it was a lot of reading off of a paper and slides. However, Professor Piper did have interesting things to say. Although she didn't spend much time connecting the two ideas of water and oil, she was extremely informative about the world and culture behind the scenes of water.

She introduced her topic by saying how many private companies promise something great. Each private company promises cleaner water for poor countries, and an abundant supply of clean water for poor countries. However, it was really interesting to hear the backgrounds of the private companies she focused on. The London on Tap was among the one she focused on. This particular company had a history of colonization. Because of such a background, it's not a surprise how this company is run. This company supplies most of England, but uses force as its tactics. An interesting fact was the all private water companies also are involved with waste, railroads, and changing it's name from country to country to avoid bad press.

The reason why private firms are so popular, is because private firms are able to get away with things public companies aren't able to. Also, water isn't seen as a valuable resource. This is where the idea of oil comes into play. Many companies build big dams to obtain more water. Many companies also dig into the earth to gain more water. By doing so, companies are saying that there isn't an efficient amount of clean water supply left in this world. Because of this, water becomes a scarce good like oil. In Bolivia, there is military protection on its water supply. The private companies almost exploit the poverty of poor nations. Private companies promise one thing, but say another. They claim that poor countries aren't willing to take their [companies'] water unless the people of the poor countries pay for it. Many private companies get away with such exploitation by being vague in their responses, retorting "it's complicated" or by focusing on success stories. One success story worth mention is when there was a small dam made in India. The citizens of India were able to maintain it themselves, providing clean water. However, private companies usually build big dams that are harder to maintain - which often lead to contaminated water that lead to disease.

Private companies, believe it or not, have been in the U.S. It hasn't been successful. In Atlanta, there was a fiasco (contamination in the water). This also happened in Milwaukee. The U.S. is very resistant to private companies. One thing that cannot be denied (beyond the idea of private companies exploited different countries or just trying to gain a profit) is that our water supply is running out. In the U.S., most of our water goes to agriculture. A lot of water is used to maintain the growth of rice. Many people, don't understand the severity of the scarcity of water. One company that Professor Piper brought up, which was actually a 'good' company, was Everest Water. Everest Water uses the atmosphere to collect water, to create clean water for a family. By doing so, this eliminated the reliance of the limited water in the ground. The problem is, China has accused this company for stealing its clouds.

This issue of water being scarce is not one that just reflect private companies. It also is a question of politics. Professor Piper believes an alternative to this crisis is by having the World Bank offer loans to public companies, rather than private companies. The World Bank had done this before, and she believe the World Bank should continue this. Also, another option would be to build smaller dams that are more manageable. I learned that this idea of water being a scarce good didn't just stop there, it had to do with poor countries being exploited by companies that say are doing something for the good of those people, and it also had to the with the intervention of politics.